The Christology of the Nicene Creed represents nearly three centuries of Christian development, and confesses belief in “one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made.” The creed draws on several Scriptures here, but most—if not all—of this section could be developed from John’s prologue alone.
John’s high Christology has often been seen as a major distinction between his Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels. From its declaration that “the Word was God” to Thomas’ worship of Jesus as “My Lord and my God!” John’s Gospel proclaims a majestically high Christology. Indeed, some have seen in John a Christology that finds no parallel in the Synoptics. For them, John’s logos and his explicit portrayal of Jesus’ divinity is juxtaposed with the less exalted portraits of Jesus in the Matthew, Mark, and Luke. To put it simply, the Jesus of the Synoptics is incompatible with the Jesus of John.
But is this dichotomy accurate? Does it give a fair reading to the Christological titles and roles assigned to Jesus by the other Evangelists? I argue that such a view fails to account for the Christological motifs developed in the Synoptics. Further, by doing so it creates a false dichotomy between John and the other Evangelists on the point of exalted Christology.
To be sure, John’s Christology is elevated to the highest possible level in his prologue as ho logos who sarx egeneto (v. 14) is both pros ton theon and, indeed, theos en ho logos (v. 1). And it seems, at face value, that the opening scenes of the Synoptics introduce Jesus with less explicitly divine language and titles. Nevertheless, I argue that the exalted, indeed divine, Christology found in John’s prologue is matched by the opening scenes of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
While all four Evangelists approach Jesus’ coming into the world from a unique perspective, they all connect his entry into human history with John the Baptist, culminating in their encounter at the Jordan. We will restrict ourselves to these opening scenes and demonstrate that in all four Gospels the Evangelists magnificently declare Jesus’ identity as God incarnate.
Thus, exalted Christology emerges as a unifying theme between the Gospels’ introductions of Jesus, rather than a point of discontinuity. The creed may draw much of its language from John’s prologue, but its theology is firmly grounded in the presentation of Jesus in the opening scenes of all four Gospels.